WHEN MERCEDES launched the original SLK in 1997, complete with foldy two-piece tin roof, it was a little revelation, and started a trend toward folding hard-tops for roadsters and convertibles. However, dynamically it was a bit of a damp squib, a poseur’s motor for those who think oversteer might just be a hip new indie band from Yonkers. Fast forward to 2004, when R171 replaced the R170, and the dynamics had improved vastly, only for the looks to go a bit, well… ugly.

    You might wonder why I’m beginning a review of Bavaria’s latest model with a piece on BMW’s main three-pointed rival, but it would appear the second iteration of Z4 is taking its lead from the SLK. You see, not only has this one got a folding metal roof (probably putting paid to the gorgeous but now-redundant Z4 Coupe line, which is a shame), the dynamics of Munich’s roadster have been polished at the expense of chiselled good looks.

    Allow me to explain. While the original E85/86 Z4, which was mildly facelifted in 2006, was never exactly the Venus de Milo of two-seater open-tops, my ‘Dep-O’ colleagues and I think its look matured over the years, especially if you had one in a dark colour with big wheels, and double especially if it was the lovely coupe version. However, the new one – while hardly revolting – seems to have become a bit flaccid in places, and has lost definition, almost as if someone styled it by making a full-sized wax version of the old Z4 and then melting it a bit in bright sunshine. Admittedly, the car I drove was an sDrive30i (what the hell was wrong with the simple 3.0si nomenclature, then?!) in a hideous shade called Orion Silver metallic, a hue which is neither silver, bronze, brown nor grey, but some kind of unfortunate result of interbreeding of the lot of them. And it did not suit the car one bit.

Whilst the E89 Z4's roof keeps up viz ze Jones, its diluted redesign also burdens it with an unfortunate dose of Miami pensioner chic.

Too much junk in the trunk: packaging the E89's folding roof means that the E85's pert tooshie is history. Which is a shame...

    Still, the good news is that – while looks are subjective and a darker colour might alter my own personal opinion – in every other respect, BMW has improved on the eight-out-of-ten older version to create this new car, codename E89. The Z4 was always a charismatic tool, with the ridiculously long bonnet, trademark BMW 50:50 weight distribution and growly, idiosyncratic straight-six engines (for God’s sake, avoid the 2.0i), but numb steering, a ride bordering on the tragic and handling that was strangely uninvolving in those final few tenths of exertion robbed the E85 of greatness, particularly with that pesky mid-engined, flattened 911 thing bunted out by Porsche forever lurking in the wings.

    Yet with the E89 Z4, all of those problems have been remedied. The sDrive30i (as tiresome to write as it is to say) is only the middle level of the three market-entry model Z4s, it being usurped by the twin-turbo petrol sDrive35i as flagship, but don’t let that put you off – this Z4 is marvellous. Power has actually dropped back from 265bhp in the old 3.0si to 258bhp in this one, but as the drivetrains of the old E85 Z4s were not the car’s Achilles’ heel, why worry about a tiny drop in on-paper performance figures?